AP - The Federal Reserve has slashed a key interest rate by half a percentage point as it seeks to revive an economy hit by a long list of maladies stemming from the most severe financial crisis in decades.

AP - Barack Obama leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is essentially tied in two other Republican states, according to new AP-GfK battleground polling that suggests most roads to victory are closed to John McCain. Obama could win big.

AP - The stock market got the news Wednesday it expected from the Federal Reserve — a half-point cut in interest rates — and then waffled in late afternoon trading, unable to settle on a direction. The major indexes shifted between gains and losses after the central bank announced it was lowering its fed funds rate to 1 percent.